VILLAGE OF GRAFTON NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS As of and for the Year Ended December 31, 2016 NOTE I - SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES The accounting policies of the Village of Grafton, Wisconsin conform to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America as applicable to governmental units. The accepted standard- setting body for establishing governmental accounting and financial reporting principles is the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). A. REPORTING ENTITY This report includes all of the funds of the village. The reporting entity for the village consists of the primary government and its component units. Component units are legally separate organizations for which the primary government is financially accountable or other organizations for which the nature and significance of their relationship with the primary government are such that their exclusion would cause the reporting entity's financial statements to be misleading. The primary government is financially accountable if (1) it appoints a voting majority of the organization's governing body and it is able to impose its will on that organization, (2) it appoints a voting majority of the organization's governing body and there is a potential for the organization to provide specific financial benefits to, or impose specific financial burdens on, the primary government, (3) the organization is fiscally dependent on and there is a potential for the organization to provide specific financial benefits to, or impose specific financial burdens on, the primary government. Certain legally separate, tax exempt organizations should also be reported as a component unit if all of the following criteria are met: (1) the economic resources received or held by the separate organization are entirely or almost entirely for the direct benefit of the primary government, its component units, or its constituents; (2) the primary government or its component units, is entitled to, or has the ability to access, a majority of the economic resources received or held by the separate organization; and (3) the economic resources received or held by an individual organization that the primary government, or its component units, is entitled to, or has the ability to otherwise access, are significant to the primary government. Component units are reported using one of two methods, discrete presentation or blending. Generally, component units should be discretely presented in a separate column in the financial statements. A component unit should be reported as part of the primary government using the blending method if it meets any one of the following criteria: (1) the primary government and the component unit have substantively the same governing body and a financial benefit or burden relationship exists, (2) the primary government and the component unit have substantively the same governing body and management of the primary government has operational responsibility for the component unit, (3) the component unit serves or benefits, exclusively or almost exclusively, the primary government rather than its citizens, or (4) the total debt of the component unit will be paid entirely or almost entirely from resources of the primary government. 43